The College News
Z-615
VOL. XftVII, No. 5
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1940
Copyright, Trustees of
Bryn Mawr College, 1940
PRICE 10 CENTS
Vincent Sheean
To Givp Lectiire
As Series Opener
As Foreign Correspondent
Sheean. Toured Europe
This Year
k
On November G, at 8.30 in Good-
hart, Vincent Sheean will speak on
Personal Opinion. Mr. .Sheean is
the author of the well-known books
Personal History and Not Peace
But a Sioord. In 1935 he abandoned
his career as a war correspondent
and settled down to write fiction.
During this period he produced
Sanfelice, Pieces of a Fan and Day
of Battle. Last January he re-
turned to newspaper work as for-
eign correspondent for the North
American Newspaper Alliance.
Mr. Sheean has just returned to
America from London. Through-
out the spring and summer of 1940
he has been in France and England
reporting the Nazi blitzkrieg. Mr.
Sheean's lecture is the first event
scheduled on the Entertainment
Series for this year.
s
Activities Drive
The Undergraduate Exec-
utive Board of the Activities
Drive, elected by halls, is as
follows:
Vivi French, '42, Chair-
man.
Maisie Hardenbergh, '43,
Treasurer, Pembroke West.
Frances Matthai, '43, Pem-
broke East.
Margaret Shortlidgc, '41,
Denbigh.
Eudora Richardson, '41,
Merion.
Prudence Wellman, '42,
Rhoads.
Ellen Stone, '42, Rhoads.
Mary Wilson,-�'41, Rocke-
feller.
Kathleen Kirk, '41, Ger-
man House.
Teresita S p a r r e, '43,
French House.
History of Evolution
and Origin of Fossils.
Discussed by Dryden
Series to be Continued by
Gardiner Lecture Next
. Week
lhtlton, Monday, 28.�Mr. Dry-
den continued the series of history
of science lectures with a discus-
sion of evolution and the organic
side of geology. Mr. Dryden traced
the history of fossils, correlating
Miss Wyckoff's points last Monday
on the history of mining and min-
erals, field geology, and sediment-
ary beds. On Thursday, November
7, Miss Gardiner will continue the
discussion of evolution in, the field
of genetics.
Fossils are organic and are
traces of animals or plants which
once lived. Theories of the origin
of fossils remained childish and il-
logical in ancient times and during
the Middle Ages. Some Greeks and
Romans believed that fossils were
formed by a plastic force, others
that the animal spawn were minute
enough to wriggle into the rock
where they grew. The written ac-
counts of the fifteenth and sixteen-
th centuries attach mystical mean-
ings to stones. In them we find
stones derived from stars or which
were imitations of animals, or pre-
liminary attempts at creation. In
1518 Magnus swore he knew of a
number of fossil birds, each sitting
on a fossil egg in a fossil nest of a
fossil branch.
Among those who interested
themselves in serious studies in the
nineteenth century was Cuvier who
influenced1 many through his teach-
ing at the University of Paris and
through his extensive writings.
Through his collection of modern
skeletons, Cuvier acquired a vast
and complete knowledge of verte-
brate anatomy. He discovered that
at different levels, different beds of
strata have fossils peculiar to each,
and explained that a series of
world catastrophes had made the
fauna of each bed extinct and on
Continued on Paa� Four
Roosevelt Sways Bryn Mawr Republicans;
Democrats Sing Praises From Front Row
By Agnes Martin, '43 /
The rafters in Convention Hall
rang again last Wednesday night
this time with Democratic cheers,
for "the Chief" was speaking to a
crowd of 16,000. If President
Roosevelt was able to see through
the accumulated haze of blue cigar
smoke and floating shreds of news-
paper, he may have noticed in the
crowd some fifty, fresh, eager faces
which belonged, for the most part,
to the New Deal Bryn Mawrters.
Technically, the Bryn Mawr con-
tingent wore white satin bands
across their chests labelled "Roose-
velt Courier"; canvassed the wait-
ing crowds for Campaign funds,
and sat in the extreme end of the
hall holding colored cards spelling
"F. D. R." These loyal supporters,
however, had arrived at Conven-
tion Hall at about four o'clock and
by nine-fifteen had succeeded in
worming their way by guile, smiles
or silver into the best seats. There
were those who calmly declared
that they had lost their press cards;
those who knew a Mr. Kelly, and
those who blatantly collapsed in the
reserved section. One little group
made friends with an F. B. I. man
who winked them into seats in back
of the press box. When a girl with
Miss Ely was seen illegally leaping
on and off the stage, this same man
said, "Leave her alone men, her
Ma's trying to get her a seat."
Straight-arm tactics proved use-
less in trying to hold seats for
trusting friends outside, for the
mob was "plenty tough" as it pour-
ed in. One delegate was stopped by
a tacky little Secret Service man in
a great long coat who asked
"Whatcha got in the bag, Goilie?"
The goilie and supporters had great
difficulty in explaining away the
menace of a knitting-bag.
The hall was completely filled by
seven o'clock although the Presi-
dent was not scheduled to speak
until nine-fifteen. The interim
was taken care of by an orchestra,
a chorus of 75 singers, cigars,
whiskey and chewing gum. By
nine o'clock the crowd was stand-
ing on the backs of their chairs
and chanting "We Want Roosevelt"
in a dull roar. (Not as euphoni-
ous as W. W. W. but equally as
effective.) ' Suddenly Mr. Roose-
velt appeared on the stage and for
ten minutes the crowd cheered in-
cessantly with such volume that it
was considered adequate for broad-
cast. , After the President had
finished speaking, even some of the
wolves in sheep's clothing reluc-
tantly admitted that his speech was
stupendous in humor, if not in
essence, although some others sat
through the speech mumbling ' "I
don't believe it, I don't believe it"
Calendar
Thursday, Oct. 31 �
Main Line Forum: Alice
I s'e m a n, '43, Rosalind
Wright, '44, Agnes Mar-
tin, '43.
Friday, Nov. 1.�
Industrial Group meeting,
Common Room, 7.30 p. m.
Saturday, Nov. 2.�
Latin Play, All This and
Plautus Too, Goodhart,
8.00 p. m.
Merion Hall Dance, 9.30
p. m.
Monday, Nov. 4.�
Undergraduate Assembly,
Responsibility in Freedom,
Goodhart, 10.00 a. m.
History of Science, Miss
Gardener, Dalton Hall,
7.30 p. m.
TUESDAY, NOV. 5
Cooperative Groups
Plan Civil Liberties'
Play for November
A Living Newspaper play on
Civil Liberties will be given in the
gym the night of Friday, Novem-
ber 15. The idea of the Living
Newspaper is to select and present
aspects of current affairs that are
of importance. This year, the
main emphasis will be placed on
current problems arising from the
war situation. Those problems
which become prominent at election
time, such as the poll tax, will also
be used. Ballad for Ami ricans
will be presented after the play.
Different groups will take part:
workers from Germantown, gradu-
ates of the Hudson Shore Labor
School, the maids and porters, and
undergraduates. Beatrice Sachs.
'41, and Bess Lomax, '41, will
direct.
Latin Play Promises
To be Wickedly Gay
By Olivia Kahn, '41
"Wine, women, and woe is the
theme of the Latin play this year,"
declared Dorcas Donklee, '42, who
has the lead and ought to know.
The play is Plautus' Mostellaria,
an involved tale about a drunken
young man, his rascally* slave, and
his embittered father. Miss Lake,
an old hand in the production of
Latin plays, is directing the fes-
tivities which will grace Goodhart
next Saturday evening at 8 oclock.
As usual the play will be given
with a minimum of costumes and
scenery, just enough to set the
tone. Dorcas suggests that one of
the most entertaining scenes will
be where a game of strip poker is
staged; it should present the man-
agement with a tricky problem be-
cause the participants in the game
start out wearing only a bit of
gunnysack.
Under the grease, paint and
burlap you may recognize the fol-
lowing : * Dorcas Dunklee" '42
(Tranio), Vivi French,-'42 (Theo-
propides), Mary E. Sica, '43
(Misargyrides), Viola Moore,' '42
(Calladametes), Louise Allen, '42
(Philematium), Ann Denny, '43
(Simo), Rosemary Sprague, '41
(Scapha), Barbara Bechtold, '42
(Grumio), Carla Adelt, '43 (Philo-
laches), Ginger Frank, '43 (Del-
phium), Jerry Kirk, '43 (Pina-
cium), Maisie Hardenbergh, '43
(Phaniscus), and the Burly Slaves
(Margaret Kroele, '42, Eleanor
Harz, '42, Elizabeth Gross, '42,
Judy Shenton, '42, Ann Harring-
ton, '41 f.
Wendell Willkie Wins Students;
Faculty Vote for F. D. Roosevelt
First Undergraduate
Assembly Scheduled
Responsibility in Freedom is the
title for the first of this year's un-
dergraduate assemblies. The topic
will be diseusse<l by a panctTn* five
in Goodhart on November 4 at 10
a. m. After brief talks by the
speakers the forum will be open to
the floor for further comments or
for questions. Mary Meigs, '39,
Louise Morley, '40, Virginia Nich-
ols, '41, Katherine McClelland, '42,
and Susie Ingalls, '41, are sched-
uled to be the speakers. Cuts will
be given in all ten o'clock classes.
There will be another assembly
later in November on Understand-
ing Our Time at which Mr. Kohn,
professor at Smith College, will
speak. There" will be no assembly
after this until the middle term.
Shanley Advocates
Militant Neutrality
A policy of "militant neutrality"
�maximum defense of the Western
Hemisphere and aid to Great Bri-
tain�is the safest course open to
the United States in a world of
war, Representative James A.
Shanley, of Connecticut, told a
Haverford College audience in
Roberts Hall this morning.
"If America makes herself com-
pletely invulnerable, if she insures
from outside aggression the con-
tinuance of democracy on at least
one continent of the world," the
speaker said, "then we will have
fulfilled our destiny in history."
Representative Shanley, who is a
Democratic member of the House
Military Affairs Committee,
stressed the immediate need for a
large standing army, preferably
divided into four field corps for
service anywhere in the Western
Hemisphere. He also advocated
turning Alaska into a "Gibraltar of
the North" and arranging with
Great Britain for the defense of
Iceland and the Falkland Islands.
"One week before election, the
American people are united as they
have never been since the last
World War," Mr. Shanley pointed
out. "Whoever wins the Presiden-
tial election, there is no doubt that
the American people will give him
their wholehearted support."
President Morley has extended
an invitation to all Bryn Mawr
faculty members and students to
attend this lecture as well as all
others in the series.
Democrats Tally Majority
Of Maids, Grads; Willkie
Nets High Total
By Ann Ellicott, '42
Election opinion, which has been
solicited, demanded and extracted
from the campus by both the News
and by Dr. Wells' Political Parties
students during the past two
weeks, has finally been recorded.
Willkie has won 314 undergradu-
ates from the 460 who voted. The
faculty and wardens are for Roose-
velt, 49 to 18; the graduates and
tin' maids are "also in the Demo-
cratic column, 30 to 28 and 73 to
19, respectively. A total of 779
votes were cast, and 130 people
were unwilling to vote, due to in-
decision or to their being aliens.
For the record, of the halls only
Merion, Radnor and the German
House are for Roosevelt, Merion
by three and the other two by
single votes. There is a Willkie
majority in all four classes. For
1941 the votes are 68 to 38; for the
juniors, 62 to 39; for 1943, 99 to
34, and for the freshmen, 85 to 35.
There were 14 votes for Norman
Thomas, three for the dynamic
Earl Browder, and a brave but
Solitary ballot for Mr. John Zoehnd,
the hitherto obscure candidate of
the Greenback party.
Willkie voters were eager to in-
dicate their reasons and cast 480
votes in this section of the poll, as
against 198 from the Democrats.
Business conditions, national de-
fense, the third term, and foreign
policy, in that order, had the great-
est influence among them; while
Roosevelt partisans consider for-
eign policy and labor the two most
important factors. Family tradi-
tion was taken into consideration
by only 55 persons, or so they said.
Republicans are favorably im-
pressed by Willkie's speeches, 86 to
70. Twenty were not impressed at
all. RooseveJt voters were- natur-
ally unsympathetic to this question.
Four people confessed that they
had neglected to register. All these
were Roosevelt voters,
glccted to register, although eligi-
Contlnued on Page Five
Rejoice, Give Thanks!
Thanksgiving this year is
a one-day vacation, Thurs-
day, November 28. Students
will have to sign for their
last class Wednesday, and
again for their first class on
Friday. This will mean no
Thursday to Monday week-
ends for those poor Friday
fish.
Deceptively Dizzy Grads Unbend at Soiree
With Eager Penn and Princeton Soulmates
By Agnes Mason^'42
Saturday, October 26, "the in-
ternational set," Radnor, held open
house. The soiree, starting at 8.30,
was attended by gentlemen from
Princeton and the University .oi
Pennsylvania. There is a mutual
feeling among graduate students,
both men and women, that Jhey are
"excluded and secluded." They
don't like it and Saturday night
was the first of a series of such
medicinal events.
The intellectuals lolled about on
the floors of Radnor listening to
the music of Haydn, Beethoven and
Schubert, drinking black coffee and
munching crackers and cheese. The
not too small hours of the morning
found them at the Greeks and the
Covered Wagon. We hope they
were/sedate. The party was a good
idea. It seems to have led to future .- , v?
week-ends at Princeton and, espe- ,
cially important, "all concerned
feel that new life will flow into the
dissertations." �
The grads like to travel. For
the most part their advanced wis-
dom leads them to week-vnds in
New York, New Haven and Boston,
but they are pliable and Princeton
is all right. One grad student
takes her duty as a citizen very
seriously. She is considering driv-
ing eleven hundred miles home to
Missouri to vote. Perhaps we, the
undergrads, have been deluded by
the Radnor bunch. Oh, Lord, may-
be they're frivolous.
*�*"